Normal Monsters lack effects and are not typically paired with any other Monster Card types (with the exception of Gemini monsters, a class of Effect Monsters which are summoned as Normal Monsters, and some Pendulum Monsters, which can also be Normal Monsters). Effect Monsters cannot also be Normal Monsters (with the exception of the aforementioned Gemini monsters), but they can also be Ritual Monsters, Fusion Monsters, Synchro Monsters, Xyz Monsters, Pendulum Monsters, and Link Monsters. Some Ritual Monsters, Fusion Monsters, Synchro Monsters, Xyz Monsters, and Link Monsters lack effects and are thus not also Effect Monsters, but they are not considered Normal Monsters. Such monsters are known as Non-Effect Monsters.

When a card's text reads a word or phrase in quotation marks followed by monster, it means a monster with the word or phrase in its name. e.g. a "Six Samurai" monster is a monster with "Six Samurai" in its card name.